MIAMI OPEN PRESENTED BY ITAú

March 22, 2024

Coco Gauff

Press Conference

C. GAUFF/N. Podoroska

6-1, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Coco, tell us your thoughts on the match tonight.

COCO GAUFF: Yeah, it was a good match for me. Lots of waiting, but glad we were able to get it done today.

Yeah, happy with how I played.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. You saved all the break points you faced. You dropped just three games. What are you most pleased with today?

COCO GAUFF: I was most pleased with just starting the match well 'cause when you come out and it's a long wait, you never know how you're going to start.

But, yeah, then obviously those break points I saved, I think I saved one earlier in the match, a bunch at the end. Yeah, honestly it just felt, the match, fast. I'm glad I honestly finished before it rained. I think it's raining right now so I'm just happy to get out of here.

Q. About the wait, how do you stay in it? You live far away. Did you come early? How long were you waiting?

COCO GAUFF: Yeah, so I came as normal schedule, even I knew it was going to rain. Shortened my warm-up before I hit so I could get a chance to hit. I did hit 15 minutes at, like, 9 in the morning. Don't know if that made a difference because we played so much later.

Yeah, I was just waiting around, talked to some folks, played some games, read. It felt like a long wait. I was kind of not sure when to eat. Also the tournament was giving us unrealistic 'not before' times, so that felt a little bit weird, too.

Q. Totally unrelated, I don't know if you're keeping up with video game news, but the Topspin 2025 released their roster. You're one of the player models. Your thoughts on that, what your model looks like?

COCO GAUFF: Yeah, I knew I was going to be in it because actually in Australia I did the little scan thing that you do for it. I actually never played the game. I have seen it. I don't play much sports games, to be honest.

But I will try to get it and maybe see how I play. I've seen a video of it, and the swings look funny. Yeah, it's pretty cool to be in a video game. I don't know how I would feel playing myself, though.

Q. Is there a player you would want to play as?

COCO GAUFF: Probably as one of the big three, yeah. Probably them.

Q. How do you transition from hard court to coming up French Open?

COCO GAUFF: Yeah, it's pretty simple. I think we work more on the legs and the glutes because you do a lot of sliding, a lot of awkward movements. It's a lot of injury prevention.

Other than that, it's just gradually changing surface. You're not going to go out the first day and have a super incredible movement practice. I feel like when you play on it more, it just hits you like that, so yeah...

Q. So young, so good. What's your motivation?

COCO GAUFF: I think just my goals. I just want to win as much as possible. Yeah, I think the taste of winning is something indescribable, especially big tournaments. So I just want to keep tasting it.

Q. I know your physio is Argentinian. What is your relationship with her?

COCO GAUFF: Yeah, I started with her at 16, I believe. Yeah, we have a great relationship. She's an incredible person. Obviously good at her job. I think it's important to have people on my team that I get along with. Yeah, she's from Argentina.

It's actually a thing on tour. We call the Argentinians the Mafia. I don't know if you ever noticed the support teams of players. I would say so many players have at least one Argentinian on the support team, whether a coach or physio or fitness coach. I've gotten to know the Argentinian way very well.

Q. When you're in a situation like today where it's a waiting game, when you walk on court, the mental side of things I would assume takes over. Are you able to easily put to one side let's get this done, we need to finish this quickly because it's going to rain again? How do you approach that?

COCO GAUFF: Just playing the match. I mean, you can't control the weather. Honestly, it was looking so promising when I stepped on the court. I was like, Maybe it won't rain again today. I didn't really think about trying to finish until the last game of the match when I kind of saw it getting darker, then they turned on the lights, the temperature dropped. I'm from here, so I know that's like rain coming any second.

That's when I thought about the weather. It was like, Okay, let's get it done. Especially a match like this where you're so close to finishing. I honestly didn't want to come out here tomorrow where it's supposed to rain and wait all day again to play. I was like, Let me try to get it done as quick as possible.

I think I got a little bit more frustrated when I didn't get the double break sooner, which normally I probably wouldn't have gotten frustrated not getting a double break if I'm already up a break.